DETROIT — Zach LaVine scored 43 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter, and DeMar DeRozan added 37 as the Sacramento Kings rallied for a 127-117 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Monday (Tuesday, April 8, 2025, PH time) to strengthen their bid for a first-round home game in the play-in tournament.
Domantas Sabonis had 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists for the Kings, who have won three straight and have a one-game lead over Dallas for ninth in the Western Conference.
Cade Cunningham scored 35 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. added 19 for Detroit, which has lost four of its last five games.
The Pistons started the second quarter with a 29-10 run to take a 66-48 lead. DeRozan scored eight of the Kings next 14 points to close the deficit to 72-62 at halftime.
Sacramento took its first lead of the second half, 97-94, when LaVine made a 3-pointer with less than a second left in the third quarter.
The Kings never relinquished the lead and the closest Detroit could get was 106-105 on Cunningham’s three-point play with 9:16 left in the game.
Kings guard Malik Monk left the game with 1:48 left in the first quarter with a left calf injury.
Detroit’s defense allowed Sacramento to make 51.6% of its shots, including 40.7% on 3-pointers.
LaVine hit three straight 3-pointers in the first 1:46 of the fourth to put Sacramento ahead 106-104. He made 5 of 6 3-pointers in the quarter.
The Pistons entered needing four 3-pointers to break their franchise record of 993 from the 2018-19 season — and they finished 13 of 39 against the Kings.
Heat 117, 76ers 105
MIAMI — Duncan Robinson scored 12 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, Tyler Herro scored 20, and the Miami Heat pulled away to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 117-105.
Kel’el Ware had 19 points and 17 rebounds for the Heat, and Davion Mitchell had 12 points and nine assists.
Quentin Grimes and Lonnie Walker IV each scored 29 for Philadelphia, which lost its 12th straight. Adem Bona scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the 76ers.
Miami (36-43) is now a half-game back of Chicago (36-42) in the race for No. 9 in the East; those two teams meet on Wednesday. The Heat are 1 1/2 games behind No. 8 Atlanta (37-41) and 2 1/2 games behind No. 7 Orlando (38-40).
Reflecting on a season that was wrecked by injuries, 76ers coach Nick Nurse — who started four players Monday that weren’t on Philadelphia’s roster to start the season — noted that other than one 10-3 stretch in November and December, the 2024-25 campaign was “no doubt, a huge disappointment. It started bad, stayed bad, and it’s going to end bad.”
A 16-3 run in the fourth turned a tied game into a 104-91 Miami lead with 4:22 left.
Miami hasn’t faced a double-digit deficit in six straight games — the team’s longest such streak since February 2022. / AP